Piggy has stopped eating hay

[tyrrel_katz]

Hey all!

My piggy Bob has suddenly stopped eating his hay.

He used to chomp at his hay for ages during the day, demolishing most of his hay rack daily. That said, he has never had any interest in pellets. So about a month ago, I changed up his pellets to a new brand, which he loved. But now, he won’t touch his hay, even when I take away his pellet bowl for the evening in hopes of seeing him finish off his hay by the time I wake up, like he used to.

I’ve tried new types of hay, I’ve tried taking away his pellets (he’ll just beg and pester me for food, but still won’t touch the hay). I always make sure he has fresh hay that’s been replaced daily, so it’s definitely not stale. He has fresh water too.

Does anyone have any advice? I would give anything to hear him chomp at his hay like he used to...

 

[Piggies&buns]

They only need one tablespoon of pellets per pig per day (that actually only equates to around 6-10 grams or about 15 pellets, depending on the brand). Are you only giving him this amount or does he get more than that? All I can really suggest is to not give him pellets at all and hope it encourages him to eat the hay again. Hindsight being wonderful of course, but pellets being the least important part of his diet, if he didn’t eat the previous ones, it didn’t matter.
Will he eat grass? That is the other thing which is good to help wear their teeth down so if he will eat that, then that will help prevent dental issues while he starts eating his hay again.

 

[PoppyFloss]

Try mixing forage into his hay... most piggies like that.

 

[Seven7]

My Finn and Lara will only eat Oxbow hay. I opened 2 new boxes last night and gave them some. I always keep these around.

Oxbow Western Timothy Hay 9 lb (4.09 kg) and Oxbow Hay Blends 2.55 kg (90 oz)